Tool Series Question: Hand Tools

I’m not sure if he’s covered what you’re looking for, but I love this dudes videos. His voice is a little annoying, but he’s thorough and will save you some money on things…or cost you if you’re like me and buy things that test well just because I’ll need it one day

Project Farm

Wright Tool or Armstrong is great quality and sold through small industrial local distributors or you can buy their brand off Amazon or Ebay. Great quality from either Mfr.

Craftsman is good for homeowner's work. Good quality and a no-questions lifetime warranty are selling points. I have an older set of Craftsman box end wrenches that I liked using on older vehicles. The textured finish provided great grip working with oily/greasy parts.

My darkhorse: Duralast at Autozone for basic hand tools.

I started buying them out of neccessity being 2hrs from nearest big box store working on a farm. There are 4x more Autozones than home improvement stores, 2x more than Walmarts. Limited lifetime warranty, great quality, an Autozone in every small town, and probably most important... warranty is tied to your phone number, not a receipt or card used at original purchase. Ive successfully got Duralast warranty replacement 2000 miles away and 10 years since purchase.

Depends on the application. I have snap on and knipex down to husky, but Icon is pretty hard to beat for value these days.

Let's not forget Klein. They are still trying to make "made in the USA" work.

Wera and other German brands make the best precision tools because Germans have no concept of maintenance while designing equipment and precision tools are required for almost everything.
Knipex snap ring pliers got a lot worse about 15 years ago. If you can score an old set with the square arms, they are gold.
Edit: they still make the square arm ones. They’re just $40-$50 per plier.

For locking pliers can’t beat Malco Eagle Grip. Malco no longer makes them but you can still find them around. Ordered both sizes a year ago. Strong review on Project Farm. Can still buy on Amazon

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Wera

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for Allen wrenches and bits

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Knipex

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for any pliers (I have 3 of the Knipex pliers wrench. One for the house, one for my shop and one for my other shop.)

I have a set of Wright metric wrenches and Blackhawk SAE wrenches. I prefer the Wrights.

Im a huge fan of the Milwaukee 12v ratchets. I have both 1/4 and 3/8 and I dont think I'll ever use a regular ratchet ever again.

For standard tools, that's about all I need as far as quality hand tools. My impact 1/2 and my 3/4" sockets dont get used much and they're HF specials.
Maybe I got the 3/4 at Tractor Supply I'm not sure. Only need them on my tractor and big implements.

Now woodworking hand tools...that's a different story. I have Lie-Nielsen and Veritas jointer planes, jacks, smoother, low angle smoother and a Veritas shooting plane. I have a Veritas large router plane and a L-N small router plane. And a L-N low angle block plane #109.

Narex Richter bench chisels and mortisung chisels.

And at least a thousand bucks in precision layout and marking tools from Woodpeckers, Incra, PEC and TSO and Starrett. And a Mitutoyo non digital calipers.

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What ya got for screwdrivers, ratchets, wrenches, hammers, any hand tool you can think of.

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Honestly, I'm using the same exact stuff someone else used over the past 20, 30, 40+ years. I haven't bought new hand tools in any appreciable number my entire adult life. There are just too many good deals on used quality tools to pay retail these days for what amounts to a crapshoot of quality.

Yard sales, flea markets, estate sales, really anywhere people sell stuff always have tools of some kind.

My last purchase was a Craftsman top box full of mostly vintage Xcelite tools made in USA. It was a complete set of the interchangeable allen wrench, nut drivers, screwdrivers, T handles, etc. for $125. There were a bunch of mini pliers, some files, and assorted other tools.